E36: "Biting Re-Caps" - Brian Branch Suspension? Week 9: Detroit Lions vs Green Bay Packers

In this episode of 'Biting Recaps' from Talking Grit, hosts Jason Harwood and Jacob Litton discuss the Detroit Lions' recent win over the Green Bay Packers on 'Victory Monday'. They delve into key moments, including a pivotal pick-six by Kirby Joseph and discuss Dan Campbell's successful strategies and leadership against NFC North opponents. The hosts highlight the standout performances of players like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jared Goff, and Jahmyr Gibbs. The conversation covers critical in-game decisions, the impact of weather conditions, and elaborate on the Lions' defense and offensive plays. The hosts commend Brad Holmes for constructing a versatile and resilient team.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:04 Lions' Victory and Initial Reactions
• 6:08 Branch Ejection Controversy
• 16:57 Lions' Performance in Adverse Weather
• 27:44 Special Teams
• 33:15 Kirby Joseph's Touchdown and Defensive Highlights
• 33:56 Coaching Decisions and Game Strategy
• 37:39 Critical Defensive Plays and Red Zone Defense
• 46:42 Offensive Analysis: Jared Goff and Key Plays
• 56:57 Team Dynamics and Future Outlook
• 1:03:13 Concluding Thoughts and Highlights

Transcript

Jason Harwood: 0:41

Welcome to another episode of biting recaps here at talking grit. I'm Jason Harwood, your YouTube thumbnail creator extraordinaire. And with me is a guy who just loves making highlight reels. His name is Jacob Litton. He's here again on a victory Monday and the lions NFC North. Jacob, what's your first thought after the Lions got that win?

Jacob: 1:10

Uh, the first thought, just, I guess, uh, how do I word this along the lines of business as usual? Hang on. What's a good word for this right now? I mean, we're at where we expect it to be, right? I think that's a good way to put it.

Jason Harwood: 1:30

I think I must be getting used to us having big wins because I wasn't as adrenaline wasn't pumping as much, or maybe it was because the Lions had that game in hand from the second half down that it was, you know, the adrenaline was wearing off because, you know, we'll talk about the Kirby interception, the amount of adrenaline that was rushing, coursing through my veins during the, after the Kirby pick six, um, probably just used up what I was going to have for the rest of the day. So it was. great game. I'm just really happy that we won and, getting two road division wins out of the way against probably the two best division opponents that we have, you know, the bears are starting to show their true colors, um, and, just take a care of business in Lambeau loved. I, I, first of all, I love getting it out of the way in early November. We don't have to, I mean,

Jacob: 2:21

Yes.

Jason Harwood: 2:23

but not the really cold stuff that can really, really wreck you.

Jacob: 2:28

Should we start calling it lion bow?

Jason Harwood: 2:31

Lion Boat. I like it. Like when they used to call, uh, what they call, uh, the chiefs. Uh,

Jacob: 2:37

Burrowhead.

Jason Harwood: 2:38

Burrowhead. Yeah.

Jacob: 2:39

Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 2:39

same lines. Yeah, that's cool. That's

Jacob: 2:42

Hey, you know, Dan Campbell is now five and two against the Packers. He's five and two against the Vikings and he's three and three against the bears.

Jason Harwood: 2:50

Yeah,

Jacob: 2:50

I mean, really, since Dan Campbell has been around, we've really, uh, you know, we've been shown out against NFC North opponents.

Jason Harwood: 2:56

and now the Bears don't have that Justin Fields factor. I feel like we're gonna, you know, start to improve that record, uh, on them. Dan Campbell just had the Packers number. He really invests in these division games because he's Basically says they count as two. Cause I mean, if you get a

Jacob: 3:13

Right.

Jason Harwood: 3:14

your opponent gets to win. Right. So let's flip that, you know, and he takes them very seriously. I know it's always next game up. That's what they're focused on, but he really wants to get these division wins. And if you want to win your division, you have to be your, you have to beat your indivision rivals. There's just no way around that. It's really difficult outside of that. If you lose to them you know, just get wins on the road against The Vikings and the Packers. And I know we still got to play them at home, but I do like that fact that we got the road winds out of the way. And now we could just got to take business, take care of business at home with them.

Jacob: 3:52

Right. That's huge. First half of the season, uh, you know, to go seven and one, that's kind of where we thought we were going to be. It's where we thought we should be. But now that we're here and we're doing it in the fashion that we've been doing it, you know, the momentum is still up, we're still, the ball's rolling, we're, you know, we're just killing it right now. Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 4:12

Yeah. I remember when we, four weeks ago, right after the buy, we had Morgan cannon on, and we talked about what record do we want to be in the next four games. And I remember, you know, us saying, you know, two and two would be, you know, that would be okay. Keep us in the hunt. and one is kind of where we expected. We'd love to be four now, but we figured three and one losing to one of these division games. And now it's sitting at the end of this. We're four. No, we're favored to go in next week to, you know, the Texans. It's a great place to be Alliance fan right now. It's this is unreal.

Jacob: 4:48

Definitely, definitely. It's a great feeling.

Jason Harwood: 4:50

It is, um, it's not that we're not accustomed to, but like I said, after the Packers win, I'm feeling like I'm getting more accustomed to just expecting a victory and you know, not falling apart. I felt really good that whole second half. I just knew, I know that's how Dan Campbell is with leads. Like he's not ultra conservative, playing smart football. Let's get a few first downs, you know, if we can't get it, Jack Fox is going to flip the field and the defenses. The secondary is good enough now that teams can't just down the field on us and score in like two minutes. They're at least taking four or five minutes off the clock. So I

Jacob: 5:31

Right.

Jason Harwood: 5:32

a lot more confident of, know, and I think that takes a lot of pressure off the offense too. Like we don't have to come down and score. We can, you know, turn out some first downs, keep putting the pressure on their defense. And then, you know, if we have to punt, we have to punt it's, you know, Jack Fox is going to flip the field totally over. Like three punts this game that he, you know, we're back down in our side of the field and he totally flips it and our coverage is, you know, not only is he kicking good, our coverage is not allowing a long return for them to get prime field position. And then they have to go length of the field. And that's exactly what happened in the second half. I want the thing I wanted to lead off and talk about is the branch situation. Jacob, just start out with, you know, should he have been ejected? I know he should have been penalized. We both agree on that. Should he have been

Jacob: 6:21

Right.

Jason Harwood: 6:21

that? Okay. Okay.

Jacob: 6:42

And now them feeling pressured to have to do something now, earlier, uh, in the day, crystal lava got hit concussion. He's out. Um, There was a flag on the play, I believe, but there was no ejection there. Jordan Poyer, uh, the Bill's Dolphins game, that's another really hard hit. Um, helmet to helmet, penalized, no ejection there. It doesn't make any sense to start ejecting players for these football plays. Um, And it was a football play, you know, for it to be an, an ejection, you have to have some intent. You'll be leading with your helmet. Well, after the play, you're trying to hurt somebody. That just wasn't what happened in this play. And, you know, for it to come to, from New York also, so, you know, they call the flag on the field and then New York calls that actually we're going to throw this guy out of there just. Ridiculous. And of course, something like that's going to happen to the lions. But, um, I, I haven't found anybody outside of Packers fans that have said that they thought that an injection should have happened there. Have you seen anybody, you know, fight for that?

Jason Harwood: 7:46

Now I haven't seen anyone outside of really division fans. I mean, I've seen some Viking fans that have, you know, said lines are dirty, just kind of the interdivision stuff. And then also probably stems from the TJ Hawkinson injury from last year where Kirby Joseph, you know, hit him low. I don't think it was dirty. It's just. That's where, you know, you can't hit a player high. And then when you hit them low, you're, you don't know, you're a dirty player. It's, you know, defensive players and including branch in this play are they're in a no wind situation. The first of all, the field's wet yesterday, right? And even. If he could have like somehow magically stopped his momentum, he would have slipped in and still hit him. I don't think there was any intent on the play. He probably took two, maybe two steps when you're watching it fast. When you watch it, you know, live game speed, you know, it's like, Oh man, that's a hit, but anything looks worse when you slow it down. And of course it looks like he's leaning right into him. But I feel. Look, he's like trying to shy away. He's, he's not hitting him with a crown of his head. He's trying to hit him with the side of his head. Um, you know, be a penalty. Yes. Thrown out. No, I mean, dodged a bullet there. That's our second, well, our prior, our best defensive player. Now that Hutch is out and. You know, maybe the weather factored in there that, you know, they weren't going to go deep. Um, but branch really helps out in the run game and that could have really, really hurt us. Um, and, but Brandon Joseph played well, played well enough to, to do, you know, to, to win. Um, it's just, we, we dodged a bullet there. Okay.

Jacob: 9:42

him a lesson about coming over the top like that when he's back there. Maybe, you know, there have been so many great safeties in the league and in history that I've known for these big impact hits and different things like that. And like you already said, it's raining, it's windy. It's hard for some of the coaches to even see out on the field. So for him to have that bang, bang play and expect him to be able to fully lay off and, you know, you're right. He did kind of turn his head. It wasn't like he was just a direct shot right in there. He turns his shoulders out there too. I definitely think he was trying to make the contact. He was trying to make a hit there when he shouldn't have. I don't think that that was a great call for him to make that hit. Um, but yeah, for it to result in then an ejection and then, you know, now we're having this discussion about whether he's a dirty player, whether he was trying to go helmet to helmet and all that is crazy.

Jason Harwood: 10:34

Now, I mean, Brian Bright is, he's a smart player. He is not a dirty player. And I feel like he was just going in there to deliver a big hit I've never been in that situation. By the time he sees that he hasn't caught the ball, he is, you know, he's already made his decision. I'm going to hit this guy as hard as I can. And, you know, just unfortunately hit him with the helmet. It was, if I believe it was second and 20 at that point, and that

Jacob: 11:01

Yeah. Yep.

Jason Harwood: 11:03

down and then,

Jacob: 11:05

And then a little extra. Some extracurriculars,

Jason Harwood: 11:08

let's talk about that. Cause that's what I was going to, my question is, do you think he's going to be suspended? Do you think that this is going to lead to, I don't think the hit leads to a suspension, but what he did afterwards, you know, flipping off the crowd, uh, double birds. Uh, do you think that leads to a suspension? So, um, I'm

Jacob: 11:28

I don't think so. Fine. Most likely,

Jason Harwood: 11:30

start.

Jacob: 11:32

you know,

Jason Harwood: 11:32

So,

Jacob: 11:33

about with the reputation and everything like that, and now

Jason Harwood: 11:36

um,

Jacob: 11:37

don't know if the league has it out for us. The game against the Cowboys. I know they kind of took that as a statement game. Cause we were trying to get the ball in the lineman's hands and, we were trying to do all kinds of trick plays and stuff, maybe we don't have a great relationship with the league office right now. They've got the stuff going on with Jamo. They seem to be, you know, On us a lot. I really hope that doesn't result in a suspension, but at the same time, if they do, you know, I don't like where that leads the game in general, outside of just us, but if you're going to start, you know, these bang, bang plays like that, there's no targeting. It's not like college football where there's targeting and you're instantly out of there. It's unsportsmanlike conduct or unnecessary roughness. You take 15 yards, the game keeps going on. Not very often do you get ejected for a bang bang play like that. So the ejection already kind of sets kind of a weird, you know, going forward, you know, every big hit that happens, whether it's a flag or not, uh, you're gonna have to have this discussion. Should New York, you know, should they have thrown him out of the game for this? And then you're gonna lead back and show replays of this one the whole year about You know whether that should be thrown out or not So then on top of that if you do have a suspension for that Hit and for the actions and stuff afterward. I just don't like where that leads the league as a whole Um, I definitely think the fine is going to happen and I don't know It seems like he had some choice words for the refs that were there, too And I thought that's what the penalty was for I didn't know if it was for flipping off the crowd or if it was what he said to those refs Uh that were there Um, either way, not a good look for him to go out that way, but you know, obviously emotions are high. A very important game. He knew the magnitude of what had just happened. So what's your thoughts though? Wasn't broadcasted.

Jason Harwood: 13:30

flipping off the, I mean, it was like the whole crowd. I, so I, I mean, the emotions were running high with Brian. Cause I, I've. haven't really seen him ever get that emotional before and, and, uh, see him do that and lose his cool. I just think he was totally shocked that he was getting thrown out of that game. Cause I think it is heart of hearts. He knew he didn't mean to, you know, that wasn't flagrant. Tried to avoid contact. I think in his head, he was not being overly frank Laker. And I've seen so many hits very similar to that and them just get flagged. So to get ejected, he was probably dumbfounded when he got ejected. And, you know, especially early in the game, you're playing the Packers. I mean, it, was a big, know, big ejection. And so I'm afraid that he might get suspended. I definitely know he's going to get fined for that. Um, And the suspensions, which would be ridiculous because we talked about this last week, you know, Rashid rice doing what he did off the field, you know, doesn't get any suspensions, but you're just going to flip someone off and you get suspended. But it wasn't on the camera or anything. So people just. Got some pictures of it. So that could be it, you know, that might avoid to where it wasn't on, you know, the national camera. So

Jacob: 14:49

Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 14:50

wasn't broadcasted. So, um, the choice words and everything for the ref, that's definitely going to get him fined. I wouldn't be surprised for a suspension. I don't think he's going to. But I would not be surprised for him to get suspended. And then it's a matter of when is he gonna, you know, is he going to appeal the suspension? I, at most, it's a game. I don't think they'd be doing anything more than that, but losing Brian Branch for a game's huge. And we don't want to lose him next week versus the. The text and swish it to get Nico Collins back. We're going to need him, need him back there. The whole situation was, was nuts. I, I was very mad when they threw him out and then I was very worried because it was, the game was, you know, still very undecided at that point. And I thought, Oh man, we're gonna, we're losing our best offensive player and Jordan Love's gonna take advantage, but. Didn't

Jacob: 15:43

a way for the defense to respond after that, though we didn't even get up any points on that drive. So.

Jason Harwood: 15:48

No, I mean, that's why you got quality backups. I mean, Brandon Joseph, uh, can come in there and just, you know, hold, hold his own. I mean, he's not as talented as Brian branch. I mean, very few players are, uh, but he's came in there and yeah, we didn't. Really miss a beat. So I was really happy to see that. I will say that, you know, Dave Campbell said this in his press conference that he thought the game being at four 25 also added to it. There's not as many games, you know, those one o'clock games, you know, there's like eight or nine or whatever there is on a regular week,

Jacob: 16:21

Okay.

Jason Harwood: 16:22

New York spread out, you know, those games, this was the game of the week, you know, Tom Brady's on the call, everyone's watching this game and you know, it's going to get extra attention from New York. Again, It did, unfortunately. And I think for you, for what you said earlier, they are saving face because of the earlier crystal lobby hit was ugly.

Jacob: 16:45

Yeah, they took a lot of crap for that, for that being allowed to happen and everything like that. So they had to make an example out of somebody. And of course it would be us.

Jason Harwood: 16:56

for sure. All right. Um, the other thing, you know, I, uh, that I want to touch on, it really doesn't fit into offense or defense. It just overall, the lions look like the outdoor team and the green Bay Packers look quite the opposite. So the narrative that was coming in was this is, The game, the lines get handed to them because Jerry golf can't play outside and they're going to go to green Bay. It's rainy. It's miserable out there. And you know, this outdoor team's going to show us, but, uh, it did not look that way, did it?

Jacob: 17:29

Not at all. I mean, you know, the 1st quarter looked like it was going to be heavy runs. Uh, You know, everybody kind of slipping a little bit hard to get their footing. Looked like that was going to be the tone for the whole game. And it wasn't, uh, you know, and the biggest story of the game really, and that being how many drops the Packers had,

Jason Harwood: 17:47

Yeah. And Dusty had said that, you know, Dusty had said that in our interview last week, that drops have been an issue with that team and you know, the, the bad weather certainly contributed to, to a lot of the drops yesterday, but they,

Jacob: 18:02

maybe

Jason Harwood: 18:03

yeah, I

Jacob: 18:04

we played in the same weather. And I mean, they, the lions, we were not dropping passes. I'll be it. I know that golf was putting them on and he was pretty good with his accuracy in that game. And Jordan love was kind of thrown behind and front. They weren't perfect passes. Uh, but they definitely are passes that they've gotta, you've gotta make those catches.

Jason Harwood: 18:22

Yes. Yeah. I agree. Um, you know, they did make, the Packers made a few nice catches. I remember that fourth and five play. Um, I think it was Reed made that w that was a great catch, but yeah. And then the bad snaps too. Just yeah. You know, there was bumbles on the

Jacob: 18:39

Well, they didn't have their center, right, so they had to have the backup.

Jason Harwood: 18:43

Well, I think didn't Eldon. Jenkins moved over to the

Jacob: 18:46

Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 18:46

Yeah. Yeah.

Jacob: 18:47

Yes, but I mean, he's still a starter, but he's not, he's the backup center, he's not the one primarily doing that.

Jason Harwood: 18:53

And did you see Eldon Jenkins quote after the game?

Jacob: 18:56

I was gonna mention this later, I did see this quote.

Jason Harwood: 18:59

Yeah. So do you want to say it or you want me to say it?

Jacob: 19:01

You, you can say it, you got it in front of you.

Jason Harwood: 19:04

I don't have it in front of me, but I'm going to paraphrase it. He

Jacob: 19:07

Okay.

Jason Harwood: 19:07

the team that executed one today, team that executed better one today, the better team. I'm What?

Jacob: 19:19

As if most of the time, you know, the team that executes isn't the better team. What, you know, what does that even mean?

Jason Harwood: 19:26

I think what he's saying is they didn't execute. Is what I think he says. Of course he wants to think he's the better team, but we came into your house, played your game and kicked your butt, like literally

Jacob: 19:40

Right.

Jason Harwood: 19:41

And I don't know how you can add, say that we weren't the better team that day. Um, it could be,

Jacob: 19:46

Usually that's the right answer, right? When they ask these questions. That's the right answer is, you know what? We didn't get it done. They were the better team today. We're going to play them in a couple of weeks. You know, it'll be a different story. And instead he was like, well, you know, they executed better, but we're still better than them.

Jason Harwood: 20:01

Yeah, I, I don't know if that, that might end up on a bulletin board somewhere, you

Jacob: 20:06

Right?

Jason Harwood: 20:06

might end up on a bulletin board, but yeah, and then along with all that, there was a lot of dead ball penalties that the Packers had false starts that

Jacob: 20:14

Yes.

Jason Harwood: 20:15

you know, screwed up their drives. So the Lions. You know, as Dan Campbell said, keep your composure. They had their composure for most of that game. I think Brian branch lost his composure when he got ejected and Amik Robertson had a, you know, a case later on where he got a 15 yarder, but for the most part, we kept our composure that, that game and the Packers did not, um, love did not keep his composure when he threw that pick six, he was hurried and he was just floating that ball out there. And there was other throws that love made that, you know, just we're lucky they were, they were caught. So I. The lions keep, you know, stacking these wins and they keep doing it their way. And the thing is that they could play, they could play in any weather they could play, you know, an offensive battle. They could, their defense is much better this year. I'm much more confident that we're going to get stops. I don't think it's unstoppable. I don't think I don't, but I don't think any defense in the NFL is a Ravens defense or an 86 bears. It's just, you're not allowed to play that way anymore. So

Jacob: 21:16

Exactly. It's hard to do that anymore.

Jason Harwood: 21:19

yeah. And so I'm not, that's not. Not feasible. What's feasible is getting three or four good stops a game. And, you know, you're hoping to make them punt or you stop them, you know, in today's game, you know, it's a four down and you get a turnover on downs, uh, that, you know, you're hoping to get that change of possession. And so I think the lines have a defense. I can do that now, um, much more than last year, if we're going to compare just, you know, one team to another, I feel a lot more confident that our defense can play, um, Just play better and hold their own. And we don't even have Hutch right now. If we had Hutch, oh my gosh, this

Jacob: 21:56

Ah, right.

Jason Harwood: 21:57

be zooming.

Jacob: 21:59

That's why we're hoping for an impact, uh, edge rusher here before the deadline tomorrow.

Jason Harwood: 22:06

I'm hoping we get the impact before this podcast is over so we could talk about it.

Jacob: 22:10

Yeah, right. We need to spread the breaking news. No, DJ Reader and Aleem, you know, obviously they can't be out there every single snap. They gotta take a break. And they're on the sideline, and I look and see our defensive line line up, and it was like, Al Quadeen, Muhammad, Patrick O'Connor, Chris Smith, and I don't know, it might have been Trevor Nowacki, or it could have been Isaiah Thomas that was on the other edge. And when I saw this, I'm like, none of these guys were even here, you know, at the beginning. So, for the injuries and everything to happen, and for this to be the defensive line, and then for us to hold up still. I don't think that they, you know, I don't have it in front of me. I don't think they all played a great game. I know Muhammad probably had a couple of pressures. Uh, but you know, it's just next man up to doing what they have to do. We're making the most of what we have. That's what this team is about.

Jason Harwood: 22:58

Yeah, it's about playing in the scheme and doing the right and just having the right play call and limiting damage. You know, the offense is going to hold their own. So if you know, just like most teams, you get up by a couple of scores and then you could start playing defense a little differently. The thing is that like the lions just don't let up on the offensive end. They just, they don't. And I, I'm glad that they, they do that. Cause today's NFL teams could come back from a four score game. Well, I mean, night, Colt Vikings previous year or two years ago, they had played and it was 33 did nothing at halftime and the Vikings came back. Right. That's more and more common in today's NFL. And. Dan Campbell had said this before, he's like, as soon as you start pulling starters, and then the other team creeps back, it is really hard to get yourself up after you've pulled your starters out of there, because they're, you know, cool down, you're risking injury. Number one. Number two is. adrenaline's kind of run down because you've kind of shut it down for the day So it's hard to get back up. So

Jacob: 24:04

It's a momentum swing

Jason Harwood: 24:05

it is

Jacob: 24:06

I mean, just on top of that,

Jason Harwood: 24:08

Yeah, and I don't I don't blame them I mean you could argue in the cowboys game that maybe we shouldn't be running trick plays when we're up so much like The you know, the hook and ladder to suel and stuff like that. I could get that but at no point know, should we take our foot off the foot off the gas, but we've been up so much like in that Cowboys game and the Titans game that we still got hooker in there, you know, cause you know, that's,

Jacob: 24:32

right.

Jason Harwood: 24:33

going to pay dividends on the road as we just discussed before.

Jacob: 24:37

I wanted that trick play to Caliph. It was just a regular, like reverse, but I wanted that to work.

Jason Harwood: 24:42

I know

Jacob: 24:42

if it was like, you know, just a first down, it would have been cool if that worked right there.

Jason Harwood: 24:47

Yeah. Tom Brady was not too impressed with that. You know,

Jacob: 24:50

Yeah. Right.

Jason Harwood: 24:51

why are they running that? But that's how all trick plays are right now. No one likes them when they don't work, but when they

Jacob: 24:56

Exactly.

Jason Harwood: 24:57

Ben Johnson's a genius for calling it. I was shocking. I, they just had to get, you know, they wanted to get that in there, but with the footing and like the ball, that was a risky play. Cause you're Double handing off, you know, there's just slippery. There's a lot that could have handled, you know, if we had a fumbled in that area, I'm not arguing they, they were careful with the ball. I, that was fine, but there is a lot

Jacob: 25:21

It was the fourth quarter, we had just gotten the first down, I mean, you're right, this was on the play call sheet, they wanted to run this play, there's no better time than right now when we were up by that much. I mean, we, you know, it was a 24 3 game late into the third quarter.

Jason Harwood: 25:35

Yes.

Jacob: 25:36

the final score looks like we won by 10, but this was a pretty solid win by us, it wasn't, the game was not in danger at all in the second half.

Jason Harwood: 25:45

One last thing that I wanted to talk about my overall thoughts, you know, this was JMO's last game for the suspension and we lost him in the Titans game, which we won, you know, blew him out, right? This game. I don't think JMO would have been a factor in this game with, you know, the wind and the rain and just, you know, it would have slowed him down and they weren't going to pass a real deep on this defense anyways, just. Because of the weather, right? So I

Jacob: 26:14

You know,

Jason Harwood: 26:14

you know, it's good that we got, we, that we lost them for those two games because we're going to need them next week.

Jacob: 26:20

Exactly right. And, you know, they they may have tried and end around, try to get the ball in his hand once or twice. But the threat of what Jameson Williams can do also opens up other things. So, yes, he you know, this might be one of those games where he has one catcher. He's got just one target and then a carrier or something like that. He wasn't going to blow anything up in this type of weather game. But the fact that he's there and could potentially do that, you send him deep, he's got to have at least one guy, maybe two, at least worried about where he's at. And that opens up the run game and the underneath routes and everything too.

Jason Harwood: 26:51

I just think that the defense is probably going to know, Hey, we're not, they're not going to do that. So they're not going to commit a lot of resources, the block. I mean, you, you have to have someone out there, right? But the chances of golf throwing it that deep with that weather, Probably it wasn't going to be very high. So if I'm going to lose him for a game, of course, hindsight, 2020, we won that game. Of course. It's like, okay, I'm glad that JMO was out.

Jacob: 27:13

Right.

Jason Harwood: 27:14

I just think case scenario, he wasn't going to be utilized as much in that game, whereas next week. Houston, we're going to need, we're going to need all the weapons we can get. Cause that all, you know, that's a good team down there. I know they just lost to the jets. It's a good team on a Sunday night football. They're going to be ready for us. They're going to be the

Jacob: 27:33

If anything, it makes it more dangerous, right?

Jason Harwood: 27:36

Yep, exactly. They just got the bad taste of losing to Aaron Rogers. So they, you know, they're going to want to switch it. All right. So let's move on to our, um, our just individual units here. So first we're going to start off with special teams, Jake Bates. I'll start out with him. You know, he's for one kicked his first outdoor field goal in the NFL. Uh, one for one is gave him a nice 27 yard. It was right down the middle and made all his extra points. So he

Jacob: 28:05

ones were actually straighter than the other ones that were inside. Right?

Jason Harwood: 28:10

I agree with you. I was like, Oh, those, those weren't even make me think that they're going to be misses. They were right down the middle. Awesome.

Jacob: 28:17

Yeah, that was good. Maybe he's better outside. Right. I don't recall. You know, I

Jason Harwood: 28:23

through that rain. So yeah, his, he's gotten a intensely strong leg and we've already mentioned Jack Fox for punts. He averaged 50 yards per punt. He had a long of 60. He just flips the field and he's consistent and just does his job. You can count on it. Doesn't shank them very often. Um, if I don't remember any, so I happy,

Jacob: 28:45

saw like pro football focus ranks punters and everything too. They've got him like eight or nine in the league. I don't know what, what factors that you're using, if it's just total number of yards because he doesn't punt that much or like, I don't know what factors they're in, but I mean, I, I would rather have Jack Fox over anybody else that there's in the league right now.

Jason Harwood: 29:04

I agree. So special teams is not as impactful this game as it were for the Tennessee game, but not many games are the Tennessee game. Let's move on to the defense. We kind of already just, we're just touching on it, but. Gotta start with the Kirby pick six. what did you first scream out when that happened?

Jacob: 29:23

It's, it's funny because they wanted to watch a movie. They're like, let's watch another family movie. And you know, I can't say no to family movie night, but I did warn them, like the Lions are playing. I'm focused on my phone right now, which we don't usually do during movie night. Usually there's no phones. But they know the situation. Lion's around, I gotta watch this. And, uh, Yeah, I think it was the timing of it all, Because it was like, It almost felt like, Halftime's coming soon, We just gotta get a stop here. Uh, you know, my guard was down, I wasn't ready for it. And I might have let the S word slip, actually, as it was happening. I just, you know, the excitement was there. I'm trying to be not, you know, too loud, disrupt, despicable me for, uh, you know, but, obviously that's just an electric play. And for that to happen at the time that it did was huge.

Jason Harwood: 30:10

I was telling my wife, I was like, we just need to get a pick here. I just want to get a pick at no. And I thought it was going to be a down the field pick. Cause I, you know, they had a minute left. I knew they were going to push it to try to get in a field goal range. So my thought was love just lets one up deep. Cause he likes to take chances and then Kirby's out there in center field and just picks one off at no. Thought that I have, it was going to be a pick six and Kirby was going to be blitzing on the play and, you know, just. You know, throw his hands up. And it was a terrible throw by love. He looked like he had the deer in headlights. Look,

Jacob: 30:42

Yes,

Jason Harwood: 30:43

around and he just such a stupid play because what is he had to gain behind that? Lions had two linebackers behind Jacobs. If he catches that, got to get blasted. Number one, it's in the middle of field. The clock's going to run. There's nothing to gain by throwing that pass. And, know, especially with that weather, you know,

Jacob: 31:06

right,

Jason Harwood: 31:06

to throw a deep pass just in that weather, at that time, and I just thought that was a terrible coaching decision to, know, they say they had a good, a good feel or kickoff return, got up to the 40 or something like that. Then I see it, but no, it was, it was just that weather probably would have made me, you know, Take more pause and the worst possible thing that could have happened to the Packers happened and that's a pick six So instead of going into halftime 10 to 3 you go into the halftime 17 to 3 and the Lions got the ball So I felt like oh man, you know it It was so perfect. My boys and I were about six inches from the screen, just

Jacob: 31:48

yes,

Jason Harwood: 31:49

just screaming at it, it was, we were just so hyped. Um, it was one of the loudest, uh, moments it's been in our house during a lions game. It was just super intense. It was just the whole thing of them getting a pick and then realizing he's going to score

Jacob: 32:06

right, of course, it was Kirby too. That was awesome. It was Kirby because Kirby's not usually we don't blitz him. We don't send him like that. And the fact he's running down there, he's right on Josh Jacobs in front of it. Like, it just, you know, another 1, it's like, they're just throwing them right up to him. Obviously, Kirby is going to make that play.

Jason Harwood: 32:24

yeah, I loved it. And then, uh, Levi Andariga put a nice, like, he's so big that he just kind of like, he didn't block anybody. He just got in people's way. I'll say,

Jacob: 32:34

Right? Right.

Jason Harwood: 32:35

they were, they couldn't run through him. And so Kirby just went, and I don't know if you noticed, but after Kirby scored, he really didn't know what to do. I think he was just in shock that he had scored.

Jacob: 32:45

Yes. Cause he missed a chance for the Lambo leap. Cause he, he took a minute. Like, yeah.

Jason Harwood: 32:50

and plus he couldn't fully run into like to the stands too, because it was so wet if you watch him, cause like after the turf ends, it's like, I don't know what it is, but it had to be really slippery, especially with the, with cleats. Um, and you know, they kind of just walked differently, um, on that part of the field.

Jacob: 33:11

A lot of players fall.

Jason Harwood: 33:12

Yeah.

Jacob: 33:13

it's like ice over there once it's wet. It's just like, real slick.

Jason Harwood: 33:17

An awesome play, one of the plays of the year and just for a momentum switch, what it

Jacob: 33:22

exactly.

Jason Harwood: 33:23

and for, and for Kirby, I'm just happy for him that he got the touchdown. He said today, or I think it was last night, press conference. He hadn't scored a touchdown since high school when he was a wide receiver. So he didn't get one all through college. And you know, this NFL happy for him.

Jacob: 33:40

what better time? Right. Yeah. Especially, you know, he kinda was, uh, I've been getting overshadowed by Xavier McKinney for the Packers, you know, cause he's leading him in picks, he's within the division, the matchup, you know, I know, I think Dusty even said that he thought that Xavier might get one, uh,

Jason Harwood: 33:56

Mm

Jacob: 33:56

this week, and it didn't happen, he was kind of a, you know, thinking of like maybe five or six tackles, but he wasn't really a factor in this one for the most part, um, real quick before we get away from this one though, I just, I know we said it too, but they really, the coaches really screwed this up for the ball. They're driving the ball down. We've got the ball, you know, it's a red zone opportunity and we're running the ball. And they actually, I mean, they, they were holding us for a little bit, but they just had to use their timeouts to try to get the ball back. You know, There's less than a minute left that you're going to get the ball back. I think in that situation, best case scenario, you trust your defense. You try to hold us out of the end zone and then we kick a field goal and then you go into the half, you know, 10 to three and then instead they use their timeouts. They do hold us to our field goal, and now we get the ball back, you've got a minute. You've got to go 70 yards down the field, in the weather that we've been dealing with, you know, chances are you're not going to be able to do very much. First pass is a short pass. Um, second pass, which was funny, and I guess that's just a beautiful call by Aaron Glenn. We blitzed, I think, eight times in the whole game. This one, we sent Anzalone, I know Kirby was down there. The other linebacker, I think, crashed in, too. So, I mean, we sent, like, seven on this play, and it worked beautifully. I think, let me go, I got it in front of me right now, hang on one second. They had 38 pass attempts, we had 8 blitzes, and on those 8 blitzes, Jordan Love completed 2 passes for 10 yards.

Jason Harwood: 35:31

Yep.

Jacob: 35:31

then, obviously, this pick 6 that we're talking about. So, you know, I know AJ couldn't really see out of those glasses, the rain was really pelting them, but he, he was still making the good calls. This was a very good game for him.

Jason Harwood: 35:46

he's, you know, he's shown what's going to happen if he has a respectable secondary back there. I think that that's really what's been holding him back the last two years is, um, because up front we keep looting, like you said, we're, you know, we keep losing players up there. We've lost, you know, we were down to like our fourth edge, you know, we're have Houston out there. He's not looking good. You could see why he was. You know, on the roster bubble, um, he's not producing at all. Um, Muhammad, you know, is, is getting pressure, but we just picked him up like two weeks ago, you got Isaiah Thomas on the other end, picked him up two weeks ago and you know, we're, we're doing our thing and the weather is what it is. Um, it's good that we have DJ reader clogging up the middle and a Lee McNeil had a really good game too.

Jacob: 36:31

Yes, he did.

Jason Harwood: 36:33

He had seven pressures. The Packers had eight as a team. So

Jacob: 36:37

Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 36:38

equaled, uh, what, uh, the Packers did. And Dusty had said that we're, that they're not getting pressure. Um, and that certainly showed, and, you know, Jergoff was able to, you know, almost be perfect in the first half again. Uh, he's, he did not show that he, uh, Jergoff showed that he could play in that weather. Um, I thought it was critical that we didn't let them get any big chunk plays. Um, even the big chunk play that happened was right before half. Um, when they dig it down there, but the lions made us, you know, Brandon Joseph did not, did not commit a, uh, a penalty, which would have gave them, you know, a dead ball right there. And then they would have been able to kick a field goal. He just let him catch that ball and then just tapped them down. Cause it was him, you know, in the field of play and there was five seconds left and Jordan Love couldn't even run. He was just limping. Um, there was no way he was going to make it, make it down there to snap. So it was very well coached. Um, I thought that the brand Joseph had said after the game that they had talked about that and they were ready for that type of situation to just, you know, let them catch it in bounds and tackle because they can't get down there and snap it in enough time and they don't have any timeouts left.

Jacob: 37:55

Right. Yeah, I mean, which is another thing, though. Like, here we are. The Packers again. They just threw a pick 6. They come out here and now you're down 17 to 3. And instead of trying to, you know, a couple run plays, let's take it to halftime. They're going to drop back and, you know, they still threw the ball, still trying to throw it and make something happen.

Jason Harwood: 38:14

Yeah, I, I don't know. I mean, I like Matt LaFleur. a really good coach, but I think Dan Campbell's in his head at this point. Cause whatever Matt comes up with, uh, for the most part, Dan's got an answer. And I. Dan's aggressiveness, probably just, uh, Matt tends to go a little more conservative against the lions and, you know, Dan's, you know, coaches it like any other game and

Jacob: 38:41

Right.

Jason Harwood: 38:41

And it's worked out for us,

Jacob: 38:44

I think that is what's working. That's what's making us better also is that week to week, it's business as usual. We're bringing the same intensity. We're bringing the same no matter what the game plan is. We are making changes in the play scripts and stuff like that. But it's business as usual. We know who we are. That's who we're going to be. It doesn't matter who's in front of us. This is what you know, this is what's going to happen. This is how the game is going to go. And if you look, the only game that we had any kind of variation in that at all was the Buccaneers game. And that was the only time that we lost.

Jason Harwood: 39:14

Yep. I, I feel like team, you know, especially the core members have been around the same coaching staff, right. For like three years. And. So they've been through so many different situations, and I think the amount of trust between the coaches and the players and the players and the coaches know that, hey, we're gonna have a good plan. We just need to execute this plan, and that's what they've been doing week in and week out. They just have confidence that this is going to happen, even in that Buccaneers game where we totally changed everything. We had so many chances to win that game. We just did not execute. Um, We just, you know, that was the game that we couldn't score in the red zone. And that's been the outlier compared to every other game. We get down the red zone, we score that game. We couldn't, so we have to avenge that game, but there always seems to be, um, you know, time to avenge those losses here and there. I want to talk about a critical drive in the game. Um, the fourth quarter Packers get the ball with 14 Oh seven, 14 Oh seven left on the clock, the Lions are up 24 to six. That game is fairly in hand, but you know, the. Packers score here it, you know, they still have would have time to come back.

Jacob: 40:24

Right.

Jason Harwood: 40:25

um, you know, that was the drive that that I talked about it earlier fourth and five. They were in the middle of the field at that point. They threw the ball up breed made a good play on on the ball. They were in really good position defensively and they just couldn't come up with it. Reed made a really good play on the ball.

Jacob: 40:41

It was Rake Straw that was right on him.

Jason Harwood: 40:43

rakes.

Jacob: 40:44

thought he might have dropped it. I thought I hit the crown. Uh, yeah.

Jason Harwood: 40:48

So

Jacob: 40:48

That was a good play.

Jason Harwood: 40:49

they, yeah. And so they get their green Bay finally gets in the red zone with 1115 left. So they made them take three minutes off the clock just to get into the red zone. They get a nine yard run on that first down that when they're in the red zone, they get a night, uh, Packers do second and one. made run kind of scrambles, made a weird throw out of bounds. That was almost picked. Um, you know, it was just, if it held up in there a little bit longer, we, you know, it hit the ground harmlessly, but it just being careless with the football again, right, I mean, you could easily just chuck that out of bounds. He was

Jacob: 41:24

Right.

Jason Harwood: 41:25

but he just kind of just, I don't know if it was wet and it just slipped out of his hands, but it was, it was a

Jacob: 41:30

It looked like almost like a half, like, maybe he saw somebody at the last minute as he's going. I can't tell if he's trying to hold up. But yeah, it does kind of like half throw, half slide. I don't remember if that was Brandon Joseph. Somebody dove and made a play on that.

Jason Harwood: 41:43

They. It looked like they could have made a planet, but it hit the ground harmlessly. Third and one love also makes another throw. Again, uh, as a receiver dropped it, it wasn't a perfect throw, but the receivers in the end zone, he has to turn his body a little bit, but it's certainly a catchable ball. Then they go for it on fourth down and the lions stuff them. So they get nine yards on that first play. And then we just, we just stuff them in

Jacob: 42:09

Do you know who stuffed him?

Jason Harwood: 42:11

Jack Campbell stuffed them,

Jacob: 42:12

Yes, right?

Jason Harwood: 42:13

well, I mean, DJ reader took up the blocks and Jack Campbell's free to just come in there. I

Jacob: 42:18

Right.

Jason Harwood: 42:19

it's a team effort, but Jack Campbell 9th rated linebacker by PFF after this week, by the way, Jack

Jacob: 42:26

Unbelievable.

Jason Harwood: 42:27

Derek Barnes made this turn in year three, Jack Campbell's making it in the middle of year two, where he's becoming a player you don't want to have off the field. His coverage grade is really impressive too. So he's helping out and coverage. And he's just going to be one of those stout linebackers in the, in the lion's mold of Chris Spielman, Steven Tolok, those type of guys that you just know, we're going to make plays. Um, I'd love to see him get a pick and that would be

Jacob: 42:53

Yeah,

Jason Harwood: 42:53

But you just keep them in. This was just as good as

Jacob: 42:56

Hey, he's forcing fumbles, right?

Jason Harwood: 42:58

fourth. Right. And so with 10 Oh three left, we got the ball, we got the ball back. So they took, you know, over four minutes off the clock and they come away empty handed, no points. And I thought that was just a critical drive at, you know, of the second half. That was the most critical drive on defense. We just, you know, they burned a bunch of clock and then didn't get anything for it. that's what the Lions defense has done a lot this year. The teams get down the red zone and they just cannot punch it in. And that's been the difference of why, you know, we're winning these games. We're scoring in the red zone and they're not

Jacob: 43:31

Yeah. So we actually, in this game, we have them to one touchdown and four red zone trips. And that one touchdown obviously came, you know, really late in the game, you know, less than five minutes left. Uh, Yeah, I mean that you're right. That's kind of like the story of what we're doing. Ben, don't break. Uh, you know, we do have tight defense, especially when he gets in the red zone. It's not easy for teams to score on us down there are secondary. And, you know, I guess you can say maybe to Aaron clan on this to the play calling and stuff when we get down in the red zone. Um, Yeah, it's just, it's hard for them to score, and that's been a huge difference maker.

Jason Harwood: 44:07

Yep. So 349, after they scored that touchdown, they tried an outside kick, don't get it. And then Demo just runs a clock out. He just took over that. That game, it reminded me of the Rams where,

Jacob: 44:19

Yep.

Jason Harwood: 44:19

know, they weren't going to deny demo and then, you know, the, the Packers call a timeout with two Oh three left, never call a timeout with two Oh three left. Why? Why? Because. That opens it up for run or pass because you can run, the clock's going to stop after the play, no matter what, even if it's an incomplete pass, you, you, they is going to stop. And

Jacob: 44:44

And what do we do?

Jason Harwood: 44:45

We pass a demo and demo gets easily gets the first down. And then we, you know, three kneel downs and it's over. So that was another thing where I think Matt LaFleur is a good coach, but that was a poor decision.

Jacob: 44:57

Real quick before we go away from the defense The first drive Josh Jacobs, he had 76 yards the first two drives of the game He definitely looked like he was gonna be a factor and that's about how we Thought it was going to look is that they were going to keep feeding him the ball, especially with the weather being lit away that it is, you know, we start to try to hold them a little bit better. We start being a little more consistent in the run game. And then it seemed like they just completely abandoned that, you know, they had, uh, you know, their other running back, Emmanuel Wilson was the one that, um, ended up scoring that touchdown, but were you surprised that they stopped going to him as much? Do you think it was just, I mean, was it because of the injury? I don't,

Jason Harwood: 45:37

Yeah, I know he got banged up a couple of times. And so he was on the sideline. He was averaging a ton of rush yards. I know that they got behind, um, but that wasn't really until the second half until after, you know, Love through that terrible interception. So

Jacob: 45:53

right.

Jason Harwood: 45:54

don't, don't get it. And especially with that weather, I mean, they were ripping us up, um, you know, on the, on the ground and Josh Jacobs is tough. I mean, he is, What demo is to us, like they just

Jacob: 46:08

Yes.

Jason Harwood: 46:09

Gibbs, um, you know, and, you know, you see what happens, uh, Josh Jacobs had to come out a couple of times, their backup did pretty good, but he's not, he's not Gibbs. So, you know, that's what we can do. We could destroy these teams. Cause you know, why Montgomery is resting up and, uh, Gibbs can just. Destroy them. And then comes in and does what he does in the fourth quarter and just ices the

Jacob: 46:32

Yeah, there's no relief for these guys.

Jason Harwood: 46:36

no, that's, that's, um, it's a beautiful thing. All right. Let's talk about this offense. Let's start with Jared Goff. your thoughts on Jared Goff outside in the rain?

Jacob: 46:49

Honestly, I was not as worried coming into this one as we have in the past, just because he seems to be hitting a different level this year, but I think he even exceeded my expectations. There were a lot of games last year. I won't say a lot, but there were a few games last year. If you remember where it was like, even the inside, it's like the ball just doesn't look like it's coming out, right? It's looking a little shaky. Some questionable decisions. He's trying to make something out of nothing. And he hasn't been doing that this year. I mean, week in and week out, he's following the game plan. He's finding the open receiver. He's making, you know, the cause of the line. He's finding the protection and everything that he needs. And I just have complete trust in golf right now. And even outdoors, you know, we, we threw the ball of more than I thought we were going to, and we had pretty good success. Um, I think he went 10 for 10. I think he completed his first 10 passes again. Right.

Jason Harwood: 47:39

It was

Jacob: 47:41

for 11. So, I mean, that's another,

Jason Harwood: 47:43

He, they passed more than I thought they were going to pass. I mean, Goff was wearing two gloves, which I thought was interesting passing

Jacob: 47:50

yeah.

Jason Harwood: 47:51

Um, I was wondering if he's going to wear one glove. My wife and I were actually talking. I don't know why we were talking about it ahead of time, but we were talking about, you know, is he going to come out with, you know, a glove or not, but I came out with two gloves. I was surprised, but he, you know,

Jacob: 48:06

Have you had those gloves on before? Do you have a pair of like those gloves you ever,

Jason Harwood: 48:10

I mean, my boys have like, um, the receiver gloves. So

Jacob: 48:14

yeah.

Jason Harwood: 48:15

those. I, I don't know if that's exactly what, what they wear or not.

Jacob: 48:19

It's more grippy, but even for receivers, it's crazy how when those things are wet, just how slick those can be.

Jason Harwood: 48:26

Yeah,

Jacob: 48:27

So, I always find it funny or interesting to see which receivers stick with the gloves and which ones try to go without. You know, now they've got the towels and they've got the hand warmers and stuff, so they pretty much try to make sure their hands are dry before every play. Yeah. Uh, so that doesn't happen, but I mean, the ball's still wet,

Jason Harwood: 48:41

yeah,

Jacob: 48:42

it was interesting, uh, Jared Goff, you know, channeling his inner Teddy Bridgewater, and going with the two gloves,

Jason Harwood: 48:48

yeah, yeah, Teddy two gloves. Uh, I, I just was just super impressed and that first touchdown pass Aminra

Jacob: 48:57

right?

Jason Harwood: 48:58

just, uh, you know, I did a YouTube breakdown on that on that on all three of the touchdowns But that one in particular That just showed you the trust that golf had in Amin Ra because he, when he threw that ball, Amin Ra isn't even in the end zone. He is two yards outside the end zone and he's already ready to release it. And if you, you know, when they show, have you seen those clips where they show the player, the play rate in the tunnel on the way home or the way to the

Jacob: 49:25

Oh, like, watching the player, yeah.

Jason Harwood: 49:27

I'm, I'm in rod said, I didn't think he was going to throw it. And then I turn around and I see, he said, Oh, S word. And, uh, turn around the balls there. And if you watch, I'm on rod does a really good move. He does not cause past interference, but he clears enough room for him to catch that ball, super impressive play. And it. You know, I, I think the status that he's caught his last 30 targets, the odds of him doing that with the catch thing is like one in 780, 000,

Jacob: 49:56

right.

Jason Harwood: 49:56

that happening. It's, it's insane. Those two are just on another level, um, that you, you know, you see the Marvin Harrison's and the Peyton Manning's, you know, those type of that type of connection where they're doing things on the football field that, you know, very few other, you know, teammates can do.

Jacob: 50:15

Yeah, and I think that, you know, some people might, You know, they've got the whole slot merchant thing with Amun Ra, and you know, they've got this whole perception of these slants and checkdowns and stuff. That's not the case. That, like, 1 in 780, 000 is, like, uh, factoring in the difficulty of these catches also. These are not short checkdown routes. These are, there's been some deep balls, there's contested catches. This is by no means them playing it safe that this happened. Like, they definitely, they're on the same page. Goff's putting it where Amun Ra's the only one that's going to be able to catch it, and he's been doing it, 30 for 30. I mean, the last 30 attempts and he's gotten a catch all 30 times is insane.

Jason Harwood: 50:56

Yeah, they were both got extended this off season. They're going to be playing together for a while. They could break some records. He was covered on that play. The Packers played really good defense on that. And that was a fourth down play.

Jacob: 51:07

Yes.

Jason Harwood: 51:08

or break. And I think that's where Jerry golf's like, if I'm going to break, I'm going to break with my best player out there. And I'm in raw, I golf made a perfect throw and I'm in raw, you know, toe tapped it. I'm Ross said that he knew if he caught the ball, he was going to get, he knew he got both feet in and you know, he maintained the catch all the way through.

Jacob: 51:30

Every day, I'm a judge machine, right?

Jason Harwood: 51:33

yeah. Oh yeah. 202 or whatever he does. Um, I thought it was interesting that the Lions, you know, they started out on that fourth down play on the five yard line, get the Packers to jump off sides. Awesome.

Jacob: 51:45

Right.

Jason Harwood: 51:46

Awesome calls, but that's a la Aaron Rodgers would get someone to do that and for the Packers to jump offside, especially have fourth and five from the five. I don't even know what the lines were going to really go for it from that spot from the five yard line. I don't know, but they got him to jump and, you know, basically turn it into a two point conversion and lines had a, uh, what they thought was good play. Cause it was a double move. I'm in rock comes out to the two yard line, does a stutter step. He's hoping that corner comes up and then it's, he's supposed to go to the back pylon and be wide open. The guy didn't bite on it. And I'm on Rogers created space. So Jerry golf just threw it to him. Cause Tim Patrick was covered. Alan Robinson was covered. Laporta was double covered and Montgomery came out of the backfield, but they blitz Quay rocker and golf would have never, I don't know. If Montgomery had more time, he could have broke to the middle and he would have been wide open, but they wouldn't have never had time because Clay Walker would have beat him, beat to

Jacob: 52:42

Yeah, I think in that, in that situation, you know, we, I believe that that, uh, you know, the offsides was when they had that hard count, when rag now kind of moved his head, they like executed that play. But, um, you know, then we're at the 30 yard line. We know we're going for it. Even if we don't get that play, they've got 97 yards to go down the field. We trust our defense enough, um, you know, to take a shot there.

Jason Harwood: 53:08

Yep.

Jacob: 53:08

I, you know, and golf wasn't putting the ball in any kind of trouble. He was throwing it up there, either St. Brown's going to catch it or that thing's going out of bounds.

Jason Harwood: 53:17

yeah, and, and you're right. If we stop them there, you got Jordan Love who is, you know, art, you know, later on with throw a pick six and you saw how scared he looks, how scared it's going to look in the end zone. You know, if he gets any, you know, there and Glenn's going to bring the pressure on him. And, you know, he could, could have thrown a pick six there too, but we scored on fourth down, uh, we had another, you know, touchdown on fourth down or to Gibbs. And that run was that run

Jacob: 53:47

Too easy,

Jason Harwood: 53:48

Yeah. I mean, pen, a soul, just like. Bullies that whole line. It is

Jacob: 53:53

right? The whole line just crashes everybody out of the way. Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 53:58

did the play breakdown on this one on YouTube. So go check it out, but cause you could see they, the Packers crash in. And so Sewell just uses Packers defender to just crush that whole line. The safety and the linebacker cover, I don't know if it's a gap or the B gap, but they, they come up, they take the wrong gap and then Gibbs has this whole When they, when that play was live, I thought the play was blown dead because he was running into the end zone and the Packers guys were just standing around. I was like, did they pull that, blow that play dead? And then I, he started dancing. I was like, God, that's a touchdown. I couldn't, I couldn't believe it. Um, Yeah, it was, it's just, uh, just amazing.

Jacob: 54:45

Fourth and one from the 15 yard line. And then Panay just obliterates that line. And then it's just a 15 yard touchdown. I mean, that was huge. Both of our red zone trips, I think, or no, we went went two for three in the red zone,

Jason Harwood: 54:58

Yep.

Jacob: 54:59

but both the red zone touchdowns came on fourth down. And that one from 15 yards away.

Jason Harwood: 55:05

Yeah. And I mean, they could, they would've got the first down heading out, you know, they would have tackled him. I mean, he

Jacob: 55:09

Right.

Jason Harwood: 55:09

cause it was fourth and one, but Gibbs just, again, you know, just walks in the end zone untouched, um, which is you want it, right, Gibbs had a couple really impressive runs in this game. He almost broke one, long one in that game too. But. Yeah, he's, I just love the combination, you know, Demo came out and he, he was just running different in this game right from the start. And then he showed it at the beginning of the game, middle of the game. And then at the end of the game, when he took over that, this Sonic and Knuckles, um, Duo that we have is crazy impressive.

Jacob: 55:51

Absolutely. Gibbs only played 22 snaps in this game. And that's all you need to make an impact.

Jason Harwood: 55:58

no, and it's not, you know, and he had that scary where he got tackled and I

Jacob: 56:02

Yes.

Jason Harwood: 56:03

We talked about that at work today. That was just one thing that like my heart stopped for a second, but he got up and he played. And I think he, you know, hope, I wonder if he's going to sit out or show up on the injury report this week, but you know, he came in and he ran fine after that, so I don't think it's going to keep him out anytime, but that was

Jacob: 56:21

It's also kind of an adrenaline thing.

Jason Harwood: 56:24

Yeah,

Jacob: 56:24

have been some sort of a slight ankle thing, and he definitely looks like he was about to hyperextend his leg. And I almost wonder if it actually benefited the fact that the turf or the grass was so wet that he kind of like slid out of that.

Jason Harwood: 56:36

I think so, because his leg did not stick into the ground. It kind of slid like when he, yeah, I think, I think the grass being wet certainly did help him, you know, in my, in my professional medical opinion. That's the way

Jacob: 56:49

Yeah. Right.

Jason Harwood: 56:50

you know, uh, so, all right. I, the last thing before we move on here is. is a Testament. This game was a Testament to Brad Holmes. In my opinion, he has built this team to win in so many different ways and so many different environments. We are not a dome team. are, we are actually, you know, with our offensive line, we were built to win, play games like this. All right. We're going to, you're going to try to outscore us. No, we could, we got track meets too, especially with getting JMO back. We can win those games too. We can win so many different ways. And that, when you get into the playoffs. You don't know where you're going to be playing, you know, hopefully it's just Ford Field, um, this year, uh, and then all the way to,

Jacob: 57:30

Yeah,

Jason Harwood: 57:30

New Orleans and the Dome. So hopefully it'll be just don't play who out there, but if we have to play outside, the Lions have shown we can do that. We're not, we're not afraid of that. We can thrive in that environment, actually.

Jacob: 57:45

for sure. I mean, how many different people we had? Just shouts out Alan Robertson got his first catch as a lion in this one. I might have. I think it was a third downplay. He got a first down on it for sure. Uh, so that was cool, but I mean, Brock Ray had a catch, Kalief, Allen Robinson, Tim Patrick, Laporta, obviously St. Brown, Gibbs, Demo, I mean, so many people, uh, you know, with their hands in the pot, so many people helping out the team.

Jason Harwood: 58:11

Yeah, it's, you know, we're winning. And so, you know, you're not hearing anybody complaining about not getting the ball because every week it's someone different, right? You know, even Amin Ra didn't have, and he had that touchdown cast. He got a touchdown, but his numbers weren't insane, but cause golf only threw for one 45 in that game. But it's just a matter of him making the big golf, making the big throws when he needed to his receivers, catching it and making the big catches. You saw the Packers. Dropped so many passes and frankly, the Packers are lucky that some of those weren't picked off. Like they just didn't bounce the right way to the receipt, you know? Well, sometimes they were going out of bounds because those ricochets just sometimes lead to interceptions. So it's great game overall. Before we, you

Jacob: 58:57

Another back to back, uh, back to back games where we have been out gamed, uh, in terms of yardage, but we've kind of had dominant outings.

Jason Harwood: 59:06

yeah. And I think that's just shows that by the second half, we have the game where we want, we're making their offense go all the way down the field. And you know, that way I talked about it, that one for that drive where they lost. They turned it over on downs. got like probably 70 yards of field position on that. You know, the Packers did, but they didn't get any points. And at the end of the day, that's all that matters. They got zero points. We were up. So the clock is our friend at that point. You know, that's, you know, we want that, not that to run down. We just need to keep points off the board. So I think that's how they play. And that's how they played in the Titans game. We were up so big that, okay, we'll let you get all the way down there. And then the Titans game, they weren't doing turnover and downs. They were just punching the ball out. You know, and getting the fumble recoveries. you know, it's, that's where stats can always be deceiving when you look at that stuff,

Jacob: 59:59

only tell half the story. Right.

Jason Harwood: 1:00:01

do. You gotta watch, you gotta watch those games. And that's why some national writers. You know that they don't have time to watch all these games. They're just going to look at some of the stats. And, you know, we watched that game, the lines were firmly in control, especially after we scored in the second half. Um, you know, we, we firmly were in control. Now that game could have flipped very easily. The other way we scored two touchdowns on a fourth down and our third touchdown was on a Jordan Love mistake. it like, I mean, that game could have flipped really quickly. It had, we

Jacob: 1:00:31

Right.

Jason Harwood: 1:00:31

on those fourth down plays and we not got that pick six. That pick six was the dagger though. Yeah. That was the ultimate dagger in that game. It, it ended it at that point, the momentum had totally shifted. And then we got to play our game for the whole second half, especially after we scored, you know, our touchdown, we got up by three scores. I do want to touch base. We're going to play the Packers at home the, our defense could look different because hopefully we come up, we get, you know, a trade. Um, that would be super cool, uh, to get some edge help. Uh, yeah, I'm just looking to make sure. Yep. At this point, we still have not made a trade in the podcast. Uh,

Jacob: 1:01:12

I've been refreshing Adam Schefter's feed. Give me something, man.

Jason Harwood: 1:01:16

yeah. And you know, Wingo was out for this game. Pasco was out for this game. So we're going to, you know, hopefully get those guys back. Broderick Martin may be back, um, by the time we play the Packers. So our defense is going to look different. Hopefully we have branch for a whole game, you know, so. We are going to be set, their offense is going to look different on, you know, a dry field. I feel that, you know, they're going to be able to utilize some of their speed deep. So it could look totally different. Um, you know, last, last year we went to Lambeau and handed it to them and then they came to our house and handed it to us. So we had to be prepared for that. I don't think the Lions will let it happen this year. But. have to be prepared for that.

Jacob: 1:01:58

Yeah, I fully expect, uh, you know, another, another difficult game. The anticipation is going to be just as high that week. And, you know, it probably is going to look completely different. You take it week by week, you know, it's going to be a hard game again. It's going to be hard to win.

Jason Harwood: 1:02:14

Yeah, I I know i'm looking forward to it though Beating the packers is always fun.

Jacob: 1:02:19

Oh, absolutely.

Jason Harwood: 1:02:20

Yeah Um, let's review her before we head out great guarantees I thought there's gonna be a lot of turnovers three plus turnovers only the one If we're, you know, not counting turnover nouns, we only had the one um, the did fumble three times because I think all those snaps those missed snaps are counted

Jacob: 1:02:38

Count us, Fumble, yeah.

Jason Harwood: 1:02:39

Yeah, we did not get any of those, but I'll take the one pick and you're right. Cause you said we're going to win the turnover battle and we did, we won one zero and got, you know, got six points off it. So,

Jacob: 1:02:50

Yeah, that's all that matters. Winning the turnover battle, and we won it in the best way possible, by turning that into six points directly.

Jason Harwood: 1:02:57

and not only that, it's just the timing of it. Like you, like we said earlier, a

Jacob: 1:03:01

Right.

Jason Harwood: 1:03:02

in the half. I mean, it's just like, uh, just so sweet to do that. Cause it's like a gift that someone gave you that you weren't expecting. It was, it was

Jacob: 1:03:11

Yeah, right.

Jason Harwood: 1:03:13

So yeah, um, you know, I appreciate everyone listening out there. I hope you're enjoying this. Our YouTube stuff is up. We're doing, you know, play breakdowns. Jake has been throwing up some highlight videos. I got some, you know, replays of the branch hit that we put up there. You know, you can watch that, see what, you know, see what you think yourself. I compiled all the All the different angles of the hits all in one shot. So you could see that, um, you know, lots of different ways to catch up with us. You could hit us on Reddit, you could email us, um, you could hit us up on Twitter, all that stuff's in the description, all our contact info, anything you got to say before we head out of here, Jacob?

Jacob: 1:03:52

Actually, real quick, it's not even Lions related, but the Saquon hurdle play,

Jason Harwood: 1:03:57

Oh yeah. Yes.

Jacob: 1:03:59

that's just, you know, that's why football is awesome. Stuff like that. Uh, the athleticism, I mean, the, just the whole sequence, you know, he does the little spin move, he's trying to break some tackles, and then, it's just crazy to even be able to anticipate, you see the guy coming, how do you know that even, like, in the angle that he's going low, and he jumps, he lifts his legs up perfectly to hurl, like, unreal.

Jason Harwood: 1:04:24

I'd be scared as heck that I would get front flipped like that. Like, you know, that guy hits your legs and just takes your legs out and you flip

Jacob: 1:04:31

Land on your head, or

Jason Harwood: 1:04:33

cause you're, you could, you don't even see where you're going. At least when you're going forward, you kind of put your arms out and stop yourself when you land backwards like that. I mean, That could be serious. Yeah. The athleticism and just what he was able to do in that play. I mean that, know, that reminded me of a Barry Sanders play. I mean, Barry Sanders went hurdle like that, but just like watching that and how, how cool that that was, uh, the spin move in itself was awesome. And then just the blind hurdle was, yeah, you don't ever see a backwards hurdle like that.

Jacob: 1:05:06

Right, right. No, that was very cool.

Jason Harwood: 1:05:09

Yeah. Yeah. I bet I was hoping that would come up. Cause that was, that was a. That was definitely a play of the weekend that, uh, that was so much fun to watch.

Jacob: 1:05:19

Right.

Jason Harwood: 1:05:20

So for Jacob, I'm Jason. Let's go lions hour and